FORMER Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has resigned his position as Minority Leader of the Senate, ahead of his expected defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)

The resignation was conveyed to the Senate leadership in a letter dated August 4, 2018 which has now gone viral on the social media.

“This letter is to formally inform you of my resignation as the Senate Minority Leader, with effect from August 4, 2018,” the letter read in part.

“Let me thank the senate minority leadership, our distinguished colleagues and our great party, the PDP for the opportunity to lead the caucus in the last three years.”

Akpabio is expected to be received into the APC in grand style at an event in Akwa Ibom on Wednesday. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected to lead the APC bigwigs that will attend the event.

Minister of information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had hailed Akpabio’s expected defection to the APC, especially following the recent movement of a good number of APC lawmakers to the PDP.

“I welcome it (Akpabio’s defection) because all politics is local. All those who have left us did that for purely personal reasons. Since they say politics is a game of number, of course we welcome gladly the defection of the minority leader. Like they say, it is one-one goalless draw,” Mohammed told newsmen in Lagos on Sunday.

Prior to his rumoured defection, Akpabio one of the heavyweights of the Peoples Democratic Party but unconfirmed reports say he may have fallen out with the incumbent governor of Akwa Ibom State, Emmanuel Udom.

Other schools of thought have it that the “transformation governor,” as Akpabio popularly referred to himself during his days as governor, is being threatened by the federal government with criminal prosecution by the EFCC, while others say the APC has promised him the position of the Senate President after the 2019 general elections.